BILL TRACKER: SB21-273 was killed in the finance committee by House Dems, Representatives Bird and Gray. Take action below.
BRING OUR NEIGHBORS HOME WITH SB21-273
SB21-273, the Michael Marshall Justice Act and the Marvin Booker Justice Act, so named in an amendment by Senator Rhonda Fields to honor these men whose families have put their pain & loss to work fighting to pass SB273 so that others don't suffer as they have.
SB21-273 is a narrower bill than its pre-cursor, SB21-062, that will significantly reduce harm, disrupt opportunities for violent conflict between officers and the community, and decrease the number of people jailed for poverty. Colorado is failing its citizens with racialized policing, mass incarceration, and a wealth-based cash bail system.
It’s time to end the status quo.
Why SB273? | The Bill | Support
Why does Colorado need SB21-273?
By minimizing arrests, limiting the use of cash bail and pretrial detention, we can reserve police resources for those who are a risk to others, and protect our most vulnerable communities from the harms of systemic racism in policing and our justice system.
Read the Campaign Zero report on Colorado Policing
Colorado’s prison population has exploded since the 1970’s
Colorado’s jail population grown 800% since the 1970s. 60% of people in jail are unconvicted, and most are only jailed because they cannot afford to pay money bond. Failed broken windows policing and the War On Drugs have filled our jails with people accused of low-level crimes who pose no public safety risk.
Pre-trial detention harms our neighbors with disabilities.
Jails have become our first response to homelessness, substance abuse & mental illness. People in jail are 4 times more likely to have disabilities and more than half of people in jail have psychiatric disabilities. Nationwide, people with disabilities are 16x more likely to be killed by law enforcement. Learn more
Systemic racism in policing is killing our Black and Brown neighbors.
Colorado is 5th in the nation for rate of police killings of Black people. From 2013-2020 police in Colorado killed Black people at 4 times the rate per population than white people and killed Latinx people at 2 times the rate per population than white people. Black Coloradans are arrested 8 times the rate of white people per population for lower-level offenses. Learn more
Death by suicide in Colorado jails is increasing.
Colorado ranks 8th among states with the highest number of jail suicides, and suicide remains the number one cause of deaths in jails nationwide;
About SB21-273
What the bill does
SB21-273 focuses on reducing harm and saving lives. The bill:
Mandates summons in lieu of arrest for traffic offenses, petty offenses, municipal offenses, and non-violent misdemeanors.
Limits cash bonds to cases where there is a safety threat or a flight threat.
Expedites appeals to reconsider bond conditions.
Creates a Community Response Working group to study, and recommend safe and effective alternatives to law enforcement responses to low-level offenses.
How is it different than SB62?
Unlike SB21-062, SB21-273 no longer impacts felonies and Victim Rights Act offenses. (SB62’s sponsors and supporters had included Felony 5 and 6 in the bill in order to include offenses like the alleged offense George Floyd was arrested and killed for.)
Expedited appeals and the Community Response Working Group is a new provision in SB21-273.
Law Enforcement & Public Support for SB21-273
District Attorney Gordon McLaughlin, Larimer & Jackson Counties
“Pretrial Reform is a significant, yet safe, step in reducing overreliance on cash bond & pretrial incarceration, two crucial steps in creating a more just & equitable system. Cash bond does not hold dangerous people, it holds poor people. You may hear people discuss 273 as if there were no exceptions or as if it were SB62. Neither are true. In fact, under 273 police can still get a warrant & arrest for any crime. DAs will still prosecute these crimes and jail will still be a sentencing option. 273 succeeds in flipping presumptions from arrest & detain to summons & supervise. It is a pragmatic & meaningful criminal justice reform bill & I encourage the #coleg to pass it.”
District Attorney Beth McCann, Denver County
“I want to emphasize again that the purpose of bond is to ensure that someone is going to show up to respond to their charges and we do that because people are presumed innocent under our constitutional system until they are proven guilty. Holding someone before they are proven guilty is a heavy burden. If someone is able to make a $50,000 bond, even if it’s a violent crime and they are dangerous, they will get out. If someone can’t make a $500 bond, that person won’t get out. This bill strikes a balance that is appropriate.”
District Attorney Alexis King, Jefferson & Gilpin Counties
“People miss court all the time – it is not uncommon. We have seen counties have great success, more success, with sending text messages to people to come to court than having them post a cash bond. And so if the goal is to get people to court, then we should be utilizing nonpunitive, non-destabilizing ways in order to make that happen.”
District Attorney Alonso Payne, San Luis Valley
“With misdemeanor offenses for the most part, if you are being held in custody, it’s because you are poor. This is an issue of criminalization of poverty. The amount of money in your pocketbook makes an extreme difference even when you have prosecutors, like me, who want to be compassionate. The bill gives the judges the power to have the compassion that they desire. It is also critical for our small jails and counties because jailing someone pretrial is expensive. For us, one inmate is an impact on our system. This bill will be another quiver in our arrow as prosecutors to ensure the safety of our communities.”
Sheriff Sean Smith, La Plata County
“This is a step in the right direction to address the overuse of jails for pretrial confinement and to reduce the destabilizing impacts of pretrial confinement for low-level offenders when community safety is not a risk. I believe we need to reserve jails for people who are sentenced or pose a risk to public safety. SB273 is a compromise bill. It is the result of listening to communities and concerns of Colorado law enforcement. This bill has the ability to enhance public safety by limiting the possibility of arrest for low-level, nonviolent offenseThis bill in no one impedes the court’s ability to sentence an offender to jail if the court believes this is necessary. We are simply talking about issuing a summons in lieu of an arrest for low level, non-violent offenders as the mechanism to initiate the criminal justice process.”
County Commissioner Claire Levy, Boulder County
For Colorado’s jails and courts to uphold constitutional requirements that people not be deprived of their liberty when they are still afforded a presumption of innocence, we must limit who is taken into custody in the first place. Across the country, people are in jail based on a mere allegation of criminal wrongdoing, often for offenses for which, were they found guilty, they would not serve jail time. Too often a monetary condition of release is set at a level that is calculated to prevent release rather than to secure the defendant’s appearance after release. No one should be in jail awaiting trial who is not either a risk of flight or a demonstrative threat to public safety. SB273 is consistent with these principles.”
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